


Into the Light

by linasane



Series: Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Castiel Plays the Piano, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-09 18:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1149155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linasane/pseuds/linasane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt: "How about a piano-playing Castiel? Dean loves to listen but Cas doesn’t know he’s there."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hospital

Dean wanders down the hospital hallway.  It’s late, so there aren’t many people around.  He likes this time best, when there are only one or two nurses roaming the halls with him.  The busy times during the day, when doctors and nurses are rushing around from room to room or transferring patients in huge rolling beds, those are the worst.  The more people there are running around, the harder it becomes to avoid them or get out of their way; and somehow, even though it’s happened on countless occasions, Dean’s never really gotten used to that whole people walking  _through_  him thing.  So, yeah, he prefers the peace and quiet.

He knows it’s cliché, to be haunting the hallways of a hospital, but sometimes he just gets this urge, this itch, to wander.  He doesn’t know if it’s a ghost thing, or if he’s just weird, but there’s a sense of restlessness that definitely seems to be getting worse the longer he stays here.  He’s been wandering for an hour or two now, and it seems to have settled down for the night, so he heads into the part of the hospital marked “under construction.”

It’s a creepy place, really.  Supposedly this wing is being refurbished, but he hasn’t seen workers here in months.  They didn’t even finish moving all the furniture out before they stopped working on it, and now the hospital staff just seems to stay away completely.  Dean guesses that might be because of the rumors going around that this area is haunted which, yeah okay, it is.  As he thinks this, soft piano music drifts out of the old music room.  Dean smiles and makes his way over there.

When he gets to the doorway, he stops and leans against the frame.  Cas is sitting at the piano, his back to the door.  Dean watches the other man play, his whole body moving with the music.  He knows if he walked to the other side, he’d see that Cas’s eyebrows are pushing together, his eyes narrowed in concentration.  After all, it takes a lot of effort to push down the keys when you’re incorporeal.

Dean stands and watches until Cas suddenly stills.

“I thought we’d gotten over you watching me from the doorway,” he says without turning away from the keys.

Dean pushes off the wall and makes his way over to slide onto the piano bench beside Cas, wrapping an arm around the other man’s shoulders.  He smiles when Cas leans into his touch.

“Sorry,” Dean says, pressing a kiss to Cas’s dark, messy hair.

“S’okay,” Cas tells him, “Actually, it reminds me of when we met.”

Dean chuckles; Cas had scared the shit out of him when they first met.

 

* * *

 

It had been a little over six months ago.  Sammy had just been discharged, and Dean had watched Jess help him through the hospital doors.  He and Dean had been in an accident about a month before, on their way to get  _groceries_  of all things.  (Dean was still bitter about that fact; all the joyriding he had done in his teenage years, all the bar fights he’d gotten into just after Dad died, even all the potential dangerous tools and setups around the shop where he worked, and what had taken Dean out had been a trip for groceries and a tired trucker who ran a red light.)  Sam had a bad concussion and a busted up leg that had required a few surgeries, but Dean had suffered severe internal bleeding and had stood by and watched from outside himself when the doctors finally failed to revive him.  He was glad that Sammy made it out alright though.  His little brother was the one that mattered, the one that would go to law school and then go on to do incredible things.  Still, watching the moose walk out of the hospital (most likely the last time Dean would see him, seeing as he appeared to be stuck here) had been one of the hardest moments of Dean’s life.

He had been roaming the halls, seeking some distraction, when he found himself following the sounds of piano music, the tune just as sorrowful as he felt.  Eventually he’d made his way to the old music room, and had leaned up against the wall outside the doorway, just listening to the music that seemed to echo his own grieving soul.  It was then that he had finally allowed himself to cry, pulling his legs up to his chest and letting his head rest on his knees as the tears began to fall.

It became a sort of informal routine after that.  Every day Dean would roam the floor, finding the patients with good taste in TV shows, or wandering into the nurses lounge to listen in on all their gossip; every night, he’d make his way over to the hallway outside of the music room and listen to the stranger’s sorrowful music.

Slowly, night by night, Dean found himself drawing closer and closer to the man at the piano.  He moved from the hallway to the doorway, then further inside the room, until one night he stood directly behind the man.  After a good hour of just standing there, emboldened by the knowledge that the living couldn’t see him, Dean had moved to sit on the bench beside the other man.  He’d sat like that for another half hour, just watching the man’s face.  He looked…troubled, brow pulled together, eyes narrowed so far that Dean couldn’t even tell what color they were.  Which was why Dean was so shocked when those eyes widened and turned to stare straight into his own, and the other man tilted his head and spoke.

“You’d think you would be afraid of a piano just playing itself,” he said.

Dean fell off the bench.

 

* * *

 

“What the hell?” he said, scrambling up from the floor, “you can  _see_  me??”

Now it was Blue Eyes’ turn to be surprised, furrowed brows lifting as he jumped off the bench and moved towards Dean.  “ _You_  can see  _me_??” he asked, “But I’m…”

“Dead?” Dean hazarded a guess, “Yeah, me too, buddy.”

The other man stood confused for a second before seemingly shaking himself out of it.  He surprised Dean by holding out a hand.  “I’m Castiel.”

“Dean,” the other man said, reaching a hand out as well.  As soon as their hands touched, the both seemed to freeze, staring at where their fingers were intertwined.

Castiel seemed to shake himself out of it first, looking away from their hands and up at Dean, “I’m sorry,” he said without withdrawing his hand, “It’s just, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to touch anyone…”

“Yeah,” Dean said, almost dazed at the feel of another person’s hand in his own, “I know the feeling.”  He met Castiel’s gaze and couldn’t seem to look away.

They stood like that for a few minutes before Dean coughed and pulled his hand back, effectively breaking the moment of…whatever it was that had just passed between them.

“So,” he said, tucking his hands into the pockets of  his seemingly permanent hospital scrub pants (thank God he hadn’t died in one of those awful hospital gowns with his ass flapping in the wind), “How long since you kicked it?”

Castiel sat back down on the piano bench.  He was clad in what looked like his own pair of pajama pants and a grey t-shirt, so Dean figured he’d been here a while.  “Three weeks,” he told Dean, “Cancer.”

“Sucks, man,” Dean said, “Least you knew it was coming though; I was in a car accident on the way to the freakin’ grocery store.  Then, boom, dead.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Castiel said, his shoulders slumping.  Dean immediately felt sorry about what he’d said.

“I mean it sucks either way,” he backtracked, “But there’s nothing we can do about it now, right?”

Castiel said nothing so Dean opted for a change of subject.  “So how come you’re the first ghost I’ve run into, anyways?  I mean, you think there’d be more of us in a hospital.”

Castiel still said nothing.

Dean sighed, “Look, man.  I didn’t mean to upset you or anything.  Uh…maybe you can just go back to playing the piano, and I’ll go back to keeping my mouth shut and listening?”

Castiel nodded, turning back to face the keys.  Dean sat down next to him on the bench and, true to his word, kept his mouth shut.  They stayed like that for the rest of the night, until Dean’s restlessness forced him up again.

 

* * *

 

Over the next few months, the two men grew closer.  It started with Castiel just following Dean into patient rooms, the two of them settling down to watch TV, but eventually they did start to talk.  It’s the little things at first, what they each did when they were alive (Dean was a mechanic, Castiel a piano teacher), what they miss most (Castiel said his students, Dean jokingly said pie, but then changed his answer to Sam).  That got them talking about their families, and once they had that conversation, everything else was easy.

They never really made a concrete decision to get together, just kind of fading into a relationship.  They had always been pretty touchy with each other, having previously been deprived of human contact for too long.  Eventually sitting close on the piano bench became leaning into each other, which turned into Dean wrapping an arm around Castiel.  One day, when Dean sat down and puts an arm around Castiel, the blue eyed man turned and wrapped both arms around Dean’s shoulders.  It was the first true embrace that they’d shared, and Dean found himself melting into it, bringing his arms around Castiel’s waist and holding on tight.  Minutes or hours later, they pulled back to find themselves staring into each other’s eyes.  The staring eventually led to kissing, and from then on, they were just  _together_.

—-

Over the past six months, Dean’s come to know Castiel better than he knew anyone when he was alive, save for Sammy.  Which is why, when he sits down next to him tonight, he knows something’s up.  When he pulls Cas into his arms like he always does, the other man holds tighter, seems more reluctant to let go.  So Dean only pulls back enough to look him in the eye.

“Hey, Cas,” he says gently, “What’s up man?”

Cas drops his head.  “It’s nothing,” he murmurs.

“Hey,” Dean says, firmer this time, and Cas’s eyes snap back up to him.  “It’s not nothing. Talk to me.”

Castiel sighs and Dean pulls him back into an embrace, tucking the other man’s head under his chin and burying his nose in soft dark hair.

“It’s just that,” Cas says, slowly, voice muffled by Dean’s shoulder, “What if we never get out of here, Dean?  I mean, it’s been months,  _months_ , and we haven’t seen anyone else.  We can’t leave this hospital, we can’t really  _do_  anything.  And don’t tell me it’s not getting to you.  You’re getting more and more restless, I can tell.”

Dean doesn’t argue.  It’s true, he’s been wandering the halls way more often recently, and the jittery feeling he gets feels like it’s been turned up a notch or two.  He doesn’t know what’ll happen if another six months goes by.

They sit in silence for a while, wrapped around each other and wrapped up in their own thoughts.  Finally, Dean speaks, pulling back to look at Cas again, keeping his hands on the other man’s shoulders.

“Look, Cas.  I wish I could say I could fix it.  I’d give anything for us to be alive again, or at least somewhere that’s not here.  But I can’t do that, and I don’t know how to fix this.  I don’t know how any of this even works.  But I do know that I love you, and that, somehow, we’re going to get through this, okay?”

Cas can do nothing but stare, frozen by those three little words.  It’s the first time either of them has said it, though he knows they’ve felt it for long enough.  Dean finally seems to realize that he’s said it, a blush starting to color his cheeks.  He opens his mouth to say something, but Castiel cuts him off with a kiss.

When they finally pull back for air, Cas rests their foreheads together.

“I love you too,” he says, “I’m glad that, even if we’re stuck here, I have you.”

Dean grins, pulling Cas into a tight hug.  “Damn straight you have me,” he says, “We’re in this together.  You know that, right?”

Castiel can’t say anything to that, but he nods into the fabric of Dean’s t-shirt.

“Finally!” a voice exclaims.

 

* * *

 

Both men’s heads snap up, and Dean protectively tightens his grip around Cas.

The source of the voice lies across the room.  It’s a woman, clad in dark clothing, with shoulder-length brown hair and kind eyes.  She’s pretty, but something about her reads as a threat.

“Who are you?” Dean demands, immediately on guard.

“My name is Tessa,” she tells them, “and I’m here to take you to…well, I can’t ruin the surprise, so let’s just say I’m here to take you to whatever’s next.”

The men gape at her, and Castiel’s head tilts just a tiny bit to the side.  “The grim reaper…” he murmurs.

“Kind of,” Tessa tells him, “I’m  _a_ reaper.  But there are tons of us.  Lots of people to take to the other side, you know?  Gotta make sure we get to them on time.”

“Speaking of,” Dean says, getting up from the bench and stalking towards the reaper, angry now, “What the hell was the hold up?  We’ve been here for more than six freaking months, so, what, you just forgot about us?”

“Whoa there,” Tessa says, holding up her hands to fend off Dean’s oncoming anger, “You should be thanking me, buddy.  After all the rules I bent for you.”

“What do you mean?” Cas asks, coming to stand next to Dean and putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him advancing on the woman.

“Well, here’s the thing,” Tessa says, “Usually we get to people pretty quick, you know?  It’s kindof in the job description.  But then I saw you two, these two perfectly matched souls who hadn’t been able to meet yet.  And if I took you, then you never would.  See, there’s a rule of sorts.  The place you go next…you have to go alone.”

Cas’s grip tightens on Dean’s shoulder and he opens his mouth to speak, but Tessa goes on.

“ _But_ , if there’s someone you love, like really, truly, absolutely cannot be without, love, then you get to take them with you.  So, don’t you see, boys?  I couldn’t just let you two go off without each other.  Not when your souls are…so _clearly_  meant to be.”  She looks between the two of them wistfully for a second before her expression turns to one of irritation and she looks pointedly at both of them, “And it wouldn’t have taken so long if you two would’ve just confessed your feelings sooner.”

Neither Dean nor Castiel says anything, both trying to process all of this.

“Look,” Tessa finally says, “You can either come with me, or you can stay here.  But if you stay, that restlessness you’re feeling?  Well, it doesn’t go away.  It’ll get worse, slowly, until you go insane.  So make your choice carefully, because I won’t be coming back.”

Dean looks to Cas, and they hold each other’s gaze for just a moment, but it’s long enough for them to make a decision.

“Okay,” Cas says, taking a step towards Tessa, “What do we have to do?”

Tessa turns and lays a hand on the wall behind her, opening up a portal of bright, swirling light.

“You’re kidding me,” Dean says, “Go into the light? Really?”

“Take it or leave it,” Tessa tells him.

Dean turns to Cas. “You ready?” he asks.

Castiel nods and holds out a hand, “Together?”

“Together.”

Dean takes Cas’s hand, and hangs on tight.

Together they step into the light and into whatever comes next.


	2. Heaven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Cas made it out of the hospital, but what was waiting for them in Heaven?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who wanted a part two :).

As it turns out, life in Heaven can get a bit boring.

Sure, Dean loves the fact that he gets to be with Cas, loves that they have their own house now, complete with a kitten that had wandered onto their front porch out of nowhere a little while into their stay.  He loves knowing that this is where they’ll be, together, forever.  Still, it gets a little bit lonely being just the two of them.

He doesn’t know how much time has passed – it seems to move differently up here – but one day, as he and Cas are dozing out on the lounge atop their back deck, he finally voices his thoughts on Heaven to his boyfriend.

“Hey, Cas?” he asks, and the other man blinks his eyes open, “Do you think…do you think this is it?”

Cas narrows his eyes slightly, as if trying to see the true meaning behind the words, “What do you mean?”

Dean sighs, pulling a hand through his hair, “Don’t get me wrong, man.  It’s not that I don’t love this – it’s awesome, it really is.  But do you ever wish that it wasn’t just us sometimes?  I mean, I used to dream about this, man, the apple pie life, but in my dreams there were always neighbors.  I’ve always wanted to be a part of a neighborhood, with barbecues…and ballgames – stuff you do with _other_ _people_ , you know?”

Cas sits up fully then, turning to look at Dean. “I get it Dean, I do,” he says, voice gentle, “Whenever I used to think of Heaven, well, this isn’t exactly what I thought it would be.  Being here, with you, it’s more than I ever expected to have in my life, much less in death, but at the same time…I miss my students, I miss the chaos, the noise.  God, I even miss being in that damn hospital, with all those people rushing about.  It’s…quiet here.”

Both men turn to look out over their yard then, and the seemingly endless green forest beyond it.  It’s a while before Cas speaks again.

“And yet,” he says, turning back to Dean and reaching a hand up to turn his boyfriends face toward him, “And yet, if I had to choose – if I had to choose between a life full of others, or a life of only you – well, there’s no doubt in my mind that I would choose you.  Every time.

Dean feels his breath catch at that statement.  He knows how Cas feels about him, and he knows that he’d do the same for the other man, but to hear the words out loud is something else.  The stay like that for a minute, frozen, staring into each other’s eyes.

Of course someone else chooses that moment to come crashing out of the trees.

* * *

Dean and Cas immediately jump to their feet, Dean throwing a protective arm in front of Cas as he looks around for something they could use to defend themselves.  He doesn’t know if any harm can come to them in Heaven, but he’s not exactly willing to find out.

The intruder across the lawn is a lanky man in a sleeveless button-down shirt.  He’s inexplicably wearing a cape and a luchador mask, long brown hair sticking out of the back.  Honestly, Dean doesn’t know whether to panic or laugh.

“Hey there!” the other man calls, and something in his friendly tone makes the other men relax just the slightest bit, “You two look like you could use a drink and some good company.  What do you say?”

“Who – who _are_ you?” Cas asks, looking to Dean only to see that his boyfriend is just as confused as he is.

“Name’s Dr. Badass,” the masked man informs them, “Now are you coming or what?”

Dean and Cas look at each other in silent conversation.  In light of their recent conversation, it seems that they don’t really have anything to lose as long as they have each other.

“Together?” Dean asks, holding out a hand for his boyfriend.

Cas nods and takes Dean’s hand, “Together.”

Hand in hand, the cross the lawn and follow the masked man into the forest.

* * *

They’re led to a small shack that looks like it could barely fit one grown man, much less three.  There’s a strange symbol painted onto the door, but other than that it’s made of nondescript dark wood that looks like it’s seen better days.

“Really?” Dean asks, “This is it?”

The mystery man turns to him, a smile visible through the mouth-hole of the mask. “Ah,” he says, “ye of little faith.”  He pushes the door open and ushers Dean and Cas inside.

To their surprise, they find themselves stepping into a crowded bar.  The other man follows them in, whipping off his mask to reveal a rather impressive mullet.

“Gentlemen,” he says, sweeping his arms out wide, “Welcome to The Roadhouse!”

* * *

“Dr. Badass” turns out to be a man named Ash.  The Roadhouse had been his own personal heaven, but apparently he’d gotten tired of drinking alone.  He’d had experience with some more supernatural things in his life, and he used that to find out just how Heaven worked.  He’d explained the process to Cas and Dean, but most of his story had been technical jargon that went way over their heads.  What they did grasp, however, was that the other man had somehow found a way to jump between people’s individual heavens.

“So you spend your time jumping into other people’s heavens and bringing them here?” Cas asks.

Ash shrugs, “It’s not like I force ‘em or anything; I just offer people the option to come with me.  And once they’re here, they can come and go as they please.  I just figured, I was lonely as hell, maybe other people were too.”

“Dude,” Dean says, briefly clapping a hand on Ash’s shoulder, “You’re awesome!”

“I know,” Ash says, tossing his hair back for effect, “But enough about me, how about I introduce you to the rest of the Roadhouse crew?”

* * *

Cas and Dean spend the next few hours (or what pass for hours in Heaven) being introduced to the Roadhouse’s patrons.  It’s the first time they’ve spoken to anyone but each other in a long while, and they can’t seem to wipe the excited grins off of their faces.

There’s Bobby Singer and Rufus Turner, two grumpy old men who had been friends in life and were reunited by Ash in Heaven.  Bobby reminds Dean of his father, and he spares a moment to wonder whether he’ll ever see John again up here.  Wherever his dad is, Dean hopes that at least he and Mary have found each other.

Next they’re introduced to Ellen Harvelle and her daughter Jo.  Jo’s just a kid, maybe eleven or twelve when she died.  Apparently she had been attacked by a neighbor’s dog and her mother had jumped in to protect her.  Neither had survived their injuries.  Dean watches Cas’s eyes light up when he talks to Jo, and knows his boyfriend’s being reminded of his students.  Cas’s talking-to-kids voice is a side of him that Dean’s never seen before, and something about it sends a pang of sadness through him that they’ll never have children of their own.  But then he sees the pure joy on his boyfriend’s face as he talks to the little girl, and he can’t help but smile again.

They meet Pamela Barnes and Meg Masters, two pretty brunettes with a wicked sense of humor.  Apparently they met at the Roadhouse and had been fierce enemies at first, until they realized that their sharp wit was more effective when combined than when used against each other.  Dean and Cas watch, amused, as the two women yell teasing insults to most of the Roadhouse patrons.  Everyone seems to take their jibes in good humor, and it only adds to the bar’s friendly atmosphere.

Then there’s Kevin Tran.  He can’t be more than eighteen or nineteen, and apparently he was headed toward a very promising future when he was killed just for talking to the wrong people.  The sense of sadness that lingers around him tells Dean that he hasn’t been up here for too long, and Dean’s glad Ash found him so quickly.  It doesn’t seem like the kid would’ve fared to well on his own.  Cas seems to share this sentiment, immediately moving to sit and talk to Kevin more in depth.

Dean takes the opportunity to lean against the Roadhouse bar and survey the room around him.  The tables are full of people talking and laughing and just generally enjoying themselves.  Every once in a while, someone will get up and play something on the jukebox, and Dean finds that every song is something he likes.

“It’s pretty great isn’t it?” a voice draws Dean out of his reverie, and he turns to see a woman with bright red hair perched on the barstool next to him.  Later they’ll get to talking and he’ll learn that her name is Charlie and she likes Star Wars and Star Trek and all the other nerdy things Dean was hesitant to admit he was into when he was alive.

For now, he just turns to her and smiles.  “It’s perfect,” he says.

* * *

Soon enough, Dean and Cas’s time in Heaven is split between spending time together at home and going out to the Roadhouse.  It’s amazing, the change that some outside human contact can make.  They’re happy, incredibly so.

Cas has taken to tutoring the few children that they’ve met, teaching them to play the old piano in the far corner of the bar.  Kevin, especially, has flourished under Cas’s teaching.  Soon enough, they’re staging concerts for the entire Roadhouse.  All of the bar’s patrons, fans of classical music or not, whoop and cheer for every performance.

Charlie becomes something like the little sister Dean never had.  The two of them talk for hours about everything geeky, from video games to old school cartoons, enough that Cas will finally roll his eyes fondly and wander off, joking that he needs to “find some _real_ adults to talk to.”

The Roadhouse patrons even throw a wedding for Dean and Cas one day, tired of the two simply referring to one another as boyfriends, when there’s clearly so much more between them.  Ash officiates the ceremony, having donned his Dr. Badass cape (but thankfully leaving off the mask), and Ellen bakes one of her signature apple pies as a stand-in for the wedding cake.  Someone finds Dean a bowtie and sets a veil atop Cas’s head, and they read vows written on cocktail napkins.  It’s not the most traditional marriage, but then again, they were never going to be the traditional kind of couple.

All in all, it’s not a bad afterlife.  But Dean can’t help but feel that something’s missing.

Every so often, Ash will go out on one of his people-finding missions and bring back a familiar face.  Over the years, Dean watches as his friends are reunited with their friends and family.  Bobby’s wife gets brought in, as well as Ellen’s husband.  Kevin’s reunion with his mother brings such joy to the young man’s face that there’s hardly a dry eye in the entire bar.  Dean found out long ago that Cas isn’t awaiting any family (“Even if they were to show up,” he had said, “It’s not as if we were close when I was alive.”), but he can’t help but hold out hope that one day Ash will bring in someone he knows.

He’s just reached the point of giving up, nursing a beer and telling himself that Cas and everyone else at the Roadhouse are all the family he’s ever going to need, when the door opens, and a shadow falls over the bar.

Something about the height of that shadow makes Dean turn, the hope he had been about to abandon rising up anew.  Sure enough, the new face that’s entered the bar behind Ash is all too familiar.

Dean drops his beer, barely registering the sound of shattering glass as the bottle hits the floor.

“Sam.”

Dean’s across the room and hugging his moose of a little brother before the other man can say a single word.

“Dean?” he hears the other man say, somewhere over his shoulder, “Dean!”  And then arms are wrapping tight around him and all Dean can think is that finally, _finally_ , he’s found everything he needs in Heaven.

* * *

Dean drags Sam to a corner of the bar where they sit and talk for what seems like hours, catching up on anything and everything.  Sam tells Dean about law school, and how he went on to become a lawyer.  He tells Dean about his wedding to Jess, and the three kids that followed soon after that.  Dean absorbs each new piece of information with a huge smile on his face, so proud of the life that his little brother went on to lead.  He doesn’t speak until Sam gets to the end of the story.

“So,” he says, praying that the stinging in his eyes won’t turn into actual tears, “So, you had a good life, right?”

Sam looks up at him and smiles, resting an oversized hand on his big brother’s shoulder.  “Yeah, Dean,” he says, “eighty-two years and I went out surrounded by my wife, my kids, my grandkids…I had a good life.”

Dean registers the bit of hurt in Sam’s voice at the mention of Jess, but he’s confident that the two of them will be reunited up here someday – he’s never seen two people more in love than Sam and Jess, except maybe him and Cas.  Then his thoughts get caught up on a whole other part of Sam’s statement.

“Grandkids…” he wonders aloud, “You had grandkids, Sammy?”

Sam nods, a watery smile on his face.  Dean’s so happy to hear about his younger brother’s life that he doesn’t even care when the first tears make their way out of his eyes.

* * *

Eventually, the conversation turns to Dean, as Sam asks him about everything after the accident.

“You seem happy,” he says, “This might sound really weird, but you seem happier here than you ever did when we were alive.  Are you happy, Dean?”

Dean takes a moment to look around the bar that’s become his home, at the strangers who’ve become his family.

“Yeah, Sammy,” he says, eyes landing on a dark, messy head of hair in the crowd by the bar, “I’m happy.”

“In fact,” he says, turning back to look at his brother, a grin spreading across his face, “There’s someone I should introduce you to.  I’ll be right back.”

He slides out of his chair and walks up to the bar.  When he reaches Cas, he can’t help but wrap his arms around him, pulling his husband in for a tight hug.  He knows Cas had seen his reunion with his brother, and he’s grateful the other man had given them some time alone together.  When they pull back, Dean’s smile is mirrored on the other man’s face.

“Cas,” Dean says, “I’d like you to come meet my brother.”

Cas’s smile gets even brighter, and he leans in to press a quick kiss to his husband’s lips, before reaching down to take his hand.

And so, side-by-side, hand-in-hand, they walk over to meet the rest of their family, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anyone was wondering, I do take prompts when I have the time. You can find me at wheres-the-guinea-pig.tumblr.com. Thanks for reading, everyone!


End file.
